Fianna Fail are needed "to be a voice" for those forgotten by the Irish hard left, claims councillor Kate Feeney.

Announcing her intent to seek the party’s nomination to run for the Dail in Dun Laoghaire, the councillor said her party needed to regain the public’s trust so that those “not being served by the Government or the hard left” could be represented.

“Fianna Fail will have a very tough time to win seats back, I don’t think that will be a surprise to anyone… [but] we need to regaining voter trust because there’s a large segment of the population who are not being served by this Government or hard left opposition groups,” she said.

“There are issues that are affecting my peer-group massively, such as rising rents and the accessibility of mortgages, and, as far as I can see, they’re not being given enough of a voice at the national stage.”

Amid the botched nomination process, Ms Feeney and Ms Hanafin fought a bitter battle for council seats in last year’s local elections.

Both were elected to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for the Blackrock ward following their failed Dail bids, and now both are, again, seeking the Fianna Fail nomination to run in the general election in the south Dublin constituency.

Dun Laoghaire-based councillor Cormac Devlin, who has the backing of party grandee Mary O’Rourke, is also set to contest.